By JUNIOUS SMITH III

Kinston Free Press

 

SNOW HILL — For the second time in as many games, Washington’s boys’ basketball team lost a lopsided contest to a team playing for the first time this season. A talented Greene Central used a strong defensive effort and spectacular plays to breeze past Washington 68-29 in the Rams’ season-opener.

Ball security continued to plague the Pam Pack as the Rams forced 21 turnovers and limited the Pam Pack to 22.2 percent shooting. Offensively, Imajae Dodd scored 15, with him and Don Pigford combining for eight Greene Central dunks.

“I think the dunking early on got the team fired up and we just got going from there,” Dodd said.

Dodd let loose a one-handed slam in the midst of a 7-2 run for the Rams to open the contest. Washington fought back, closing the deficit to 13-11 with 6:05 to play in the second quarter with an Isaiah Peed free throw, but wouldn’t score for the remainder of the frame.

Dodd and Torrence Clark would combine for 13 points during a 15-0 run to put Greene Central up 28-11 at the break.

While Washington broke the drought with a Sharwan Staton basket 32 seconds into the third, Dodd followed with a dunk to start an 8-0 run, highlighted with two Pigford dunks — the first coming on an alley-oop from Don’Quez Davis — to get the crowd even more excited.

Malik Bell would silence the home crowd briefly with a 3-pointer for Washington, but Dodd had another slam to key an 8-2 run to put Greene Central up 44-18 late in the third.

“We had some great transition offense and our defense was solid throughout,” Pigford said. “The crowd helped a lot too — we fed off of their energy.”

From there, the Rams continued to extend their lead. Pigford picked up two more dunks, and Greene Central went up by as many as 39.

Washington coach Steven Flowers said the Pam Pack will have their work cut out moving forward.

“We were way undersized for Greene Central,” Flowers said. “They’re a long and athletic team. We’ve got to work on taking care of the ball and boxing out — when you’re playing a team like that, boxing out is crucial.”

For Greene Central, Clark scored 11 and Pigford added 10 while Bell was Washington’s only double-digit scorer with 15.